Pernod Ricard

Pernod Ricard is the world’s leader in the Premium spirits industry. It operates in more than 85 affiliates and 100 production sites. Pernod Ricard has chosen to focus on sustainable growth through a large portfolio of international brands and a high-end strategy, known as Premiumisation.

Responsib’All Day 2012: Alcohol and young people

In 2011, the first Responsib’All Day was devoted to combating drink-driving. In 2012, the focus was on the relationship between young people and alcohol. As they do every year, all employees embodied the Group's commitment.

For the second Responsib’All Day on 7 June 2012, Pernod Ricard put forward a clear message both internally and externally: no alcohol for minors and responsible drinking for young adults.Group employees from five continents delivered this message, from Sydney to São Paulo, Shanghai, New Delhi, Tokyo, Sofia and Johannesburg.

A day for young people

The aim of this day of action was to support the Group's various responsible drinking initiatives taken over a number of years. Through such programmes as Prata Om Alkoholin Sweden, No Ikki in Japan, the Responsible Partypartnership with Erasmus in Europe and Just Enough in Brazil, nearly half a million young adults have already been given information on drinking responsibly.

During the day, a whole series of exhibitions, forums in collaboration with local authorities and NGOs, and educational programmes were organised in more than 70 countries.

Each employee was given simple teaching material such as specially designed pocket booklets to help them tackle the issue of "Alcohol and young people" with their family and friends. Pernod Ricard's employees reached out directly to 150,000 people.

Responsib'All Day 2012 coincided with the publication of the collection of global studies on alcohol and young people led by Dr Jean-Pascal Assailly, and the appearance of the European ESPAD study on 1 June 2012.

Dr Jean-Pascal Assailly explains:"Young people have different drinking habits than previous generations. While alcohol consumption has fallen by 12% in the space of 30 years, the number of units of alcohol drunken in a single session has risen." Dr Assailly concludes that, to counter excessive drinking, education is more effective than repression.

"We have been advocating responsible drinking for more than 30 years. Today, all of our staff are working towards change. As a business, we are working hard to sustain the commitment that we made with local authorities and NGOs to combat unhealthy drinking habits."